Are physical security features still
needed on identity documents?
Counterfeited IDs are a concern
Reports show that even the most secure
physical ID documents can still be
subject to counterfeiting, particularly
aspects of the material document, such
as the cardholder’s image or other
personalised information.
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Issue 05
The reason for this is simple – not all
law enforcement agencies and private
sector companies are equipped with
proper electronic devices and software
to validate highly secure ID documents,
such as national IDs. The main
challenges when checking a document
without any device is the ability to do it:
• Quickly. Border control officers
have between seven and 12
seconds to raise doubts on the
document’s authenticity
• Effectively. A passport data page
usually bears more than 20 security
features, thus checking all of them is
practically impossible. Selecting only
a few to look at leaves the viability of
that document still in question
• Simply. Even if an on-card security
feature is industrially perfect and
impossible to reproduce identically,
making that security feature too
complex – such as is the case with
the latest generation of holograms –
can make it too difficult to verify in
the field
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At a time of strong data encryption, on-chip biometry checks,
digital signatures or national public key directories (N-PKD),
one can question the necessity of adding advanced physical
security features on a passport or an identity card, says Vincent
Gourmelen, ID Card Solutions Product Manager, Citizen Identity
Solutions. But he argues that physical security features do still
have a role to play when it comes to identity documents.